


I Got Protected by a Ten-Year-Old

by AltruisticSkittles



Series: Totally Not Despicable Dee [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Badass Remy, Child Logan, Crime Boss Janus, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Intimidation, Janus still thinks he's a badass, Physical Abuse, Remy has a potty mouth, Virgil has a potty mouth, alcohol mention, but his frozen heart is still melting, casually discussing kidnapping children, child Virgil, child roman, he's as good at being tough as roman is, hit and run mention, intoxication mention, just don't tell him that, mentions of dying, only in the first part though, spoilers for The Fox and the Hound, though they try not to when Roman is around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24606568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AltruisticSkittles/pseuds/AltruisticSkittles
Summary: “Hey, kid, want to go for a ride?” Virgil asked.“I’m not supposed to get in a stranger’s car,” Roman mumbled.“I know.” Virgil scratched a hand through his hair. “But would you rather be here on the street where someone will kill you or worse or get in a car with someone you kinda know who might kidnap you?”Roman opened his mouth to answer but closed it soon after. He spied Remy with a wary grimace. Remy looked over at Virgil, his eyebrow quirked with interest, and grinned.“Alright fine,” Roman mumbled. He eyed the limousine and scooted in first. “But if you kidnap me I’ll bite you again.”“Again?” Remy asked as he turned his head to Virgil.“Do. Not. Ask.”“Y’know, babe, Janus ain’t gonna like that you picked up a kid.”Virgil slid into the car. “Shut it, Remy.”
Series: Totally Not Despicable Dee [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771324
Comments: 64
Kudos: 502





	I Got Protected by a Ten-Year-Old

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaalright onto part 3 of the "Totally Not Despicable Dee" series, which was supposed to have Remus in it too, but this got too hecking long, so Remus gets his own chapter. You don't have to read the first one to fill in the blanks, but it might help.
> 
> The chapter warnings are in the tags, so if any of that squicks you out, best not head into these waters.

Virgil hated working on this side of town. It wasn’t often Janus sent Virgil here in the three months he’d been working for him, but he still hated it nonetheless. If something happened, there wasn’t anyone he could call for help or anyone who would come to his rescue. He was completely on his own.

Nothing bad happened yet, but the anxiety of being alone in this place gave him more ideas to work with than he needed.

The house in question belonged to a single mother of three. The oldest dropped out of school two years ago to deal for Janus, and Janus wanted to make sure that this kid, Michael, was alive. He hadn’t heard from the kid for three weeks, and that unnerved the head crime boss. Virgil knew it was probably from a business perspective, but there was something about Janus that made Virgil believe he genuinely cared about the people who he was ruining the lives of for… some reason.

Virgil sat against the door and listened. No noise came from the inside. He wondered for a minute if no one was home. But that couldn’t be right. There was a car parked right outside, and while this was a street where someone had to parallel park, people usually parked in front of their homes, right?

A door slammed from inside the house, and Virgil heard a shriek. A man’s voice, a very angry man from the sound of it, was screaming inside.

“I told you to get that shit off your face!”

Another thud followed a scream. Virgil covered his mouth so he wouldn’t make a sound. A woman’s scream followed, as well as a struggle inside. Virgil heard some choice words before the woman screamed as well, a loud thump sounding seconds after.

“Baby! Baby, I didn’t mean it.”

Virgil snuffed. Sure you didn’t.

The woman started screaming for the man to get out. Virgil took this as his cue to get off the front porch and hid in the bushes beside the house. The door flung open. Virgil watched as a woman with blood dripping down the side of her face pushed a man out of the house and nearly down the flight of concrete steps. She slammed the door in his face.

“Baby! Oh, baby, come on. Can’t we talk this out?” the man pleaded. He pounded his fists on the door. “Jaquesha!”

“Go away!” the woman shouted back. The man growled some ugly words about the woman he was just trying to sweet talk and stomped down the stairs. He took one last look at the house before he stormed down the street.

Virgil snuffed. He hoped the bastard got a sunburn.

Inside the house, Virgil could hear light crying. Soothing whispers followed, and Virgil got enough courage to peek in the window.

The woman from before was cradling a kid, maybe around Virgil’s age. Their mascara streaked down their face, ruining their beautiful sunshine yellow sundress.

“It’s okay, Michael. He’s gone,” she whispered over and over. “He just doesn’t understand.”

Virgil’s heart broke. How many times did he hear parents making shitty excuses for their awful spouses? How many kids got their nose broken, their face pressed into the carpet as they bled all over the floor? How many victims had to suffer before parents realized domestic abuse never got better?

Virgil’s mind went to Logan, and he shuddered.

The phone in Virgil’s pocket suddenly felt heavy. He slid the unlock button and pressed the only contact in the phone. After three rings, he heard the smooth voice on the other side answer.

“Virgil, how’s our little Michael doing?” Janus asked.

Virgil peeked inside the window one last time before responding, “Well, from the looks of things, not that great.” The phone on the other side went eerily quiet. Virgil added, “From the looks of it, mom might be in an abusive relationship.”

“Well, that’s a surprise,” Janus mumbled. “Totally not expected from that side of town.”

“From what I heard, the bastard got mad that the kid was wearing makeup.”

“Is he alright?”

Virgil peeked in the window once again. He slid back down the side of the house. “Looks like he has a black eye at least. I don’t know about anything else.”

Another long silence answered him.

Janus finally said, “I’ll send someone over to check up on him later. Thank you, Virgil. You did a good job. I’ll have Remy swing by and pick you up. He should be there in ten minutes.”

The connection closed, and Virgil sighed through his nose. He ran a hand through his hair and let his head rest against the side of the house. For a moment, Virgil considered knocking on the door and helping them do some basic first aid, but he didn’t want to intrude either.

Lucky for him, some crying on the other side of the street caught his attention and made his decision for him.

A young kid wearing a plain white shirt with so much dirt on it he must have fallen in the mud several times, torn black jean shorts, and no shoes walked down the street. He had a red backpack with yellow polka-dots all over it. Clutched to his chest for dear life was a piece of paper. His hair was buzzcut, too short for Virgil to make the color out, and his dark skin was either glowing with tears or sweat or maybe both. Either way, Virgil could see how thin he was from here.

It took all of two seconds for Virgil to leave the bush and cross the street.

“Hey, kid,” he called out.

The kid saw Virgil, froze, and backed up. Virgil stopped in his tracks. The kid lost his balance and fell backward with a light cry. He started whimpering and sliding backward.

“Go away! Leave me alone,” the kid yelled.

Virgil put his hands up in surrender, and he asked, “Are you lost? I can help you.”

“I don’t need your help, black-eyed peabrain,” the kid snapped.

“Oh ouch,” Virgil said as he put a hand to his chest in mock hurt, “quoting band names to insult me. How creative.”

The kid scowled and scampered to his feet. “Get out of my way or I’ll fight you.”

“You’ll fight me?” Virgil said with a raised brow.

“Yeah, I’ll fight you.” The kid stood with his fists held up, his stance totally out of balance. He wasn’t even holding his fists right to punch.

Virgil couldn’t help the snort that escaped his lips. At that, the kid lunged forward, a cry tearing from his throat. He bulldozed into Virgil’s chest. Virgil held still. The kid squeezed his arms around Virgil’s torso and bit his shirt.

“Yo, what the fuck!” Virgil put his hands on the kid’s shoulders to push him off. The kid growled like a dog as he shook the shirt in his mouth. Virgil pulled the kid off his torso, but the kid’s bite held firm. “Dude, get off.”

The kid said a “no” behind his clenched teeth and shook his head again. Virgil didn’t really know what to do. He didn’t want to hurt the kid, but he could feel a million eyes on him. He was sure this was going up on someone’s social media somewhere.

“Alright, I’ll leave you alone if you get off, deal?” Virgil asked.

The kid paused, looked up at Virgil, and spit out the shirt. He wiped the drool running down his chin.

“Gross,” Virgil mumbled as he observed the huge wet spot of snot, tears, and spit. He curled his nose before he looked back at the kid. “Why are you out here with no shoes on anyway? Don’t you know your feet are going to burn on the sidewalk?”

The kid looked down, his eyebrows shadowing his eyes. He mumbled something, and Virgil had to strain his hearing to pick it up.

“You’re… looking for your brother?” Virgil repeated.

The kid held the paper out, still not meeting Virgil’s eyes. Virgil took it and sucked in a breath through his teeth. A foster care application. Great.

“Someone stole him from me,” the kid added on.

“Stole him?”

“Yes, stole him! Is there an echo in here?”

Virgil tried not to take offense as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, so this person stole your brother. Did they happen to separate you from your family too?”

The kid looked down at his bare feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. “That’s none of your business, Inspector Gag-dget.”

Virgil pushed the paper into the kid’s chest and turned on his heel to walk away. “Whatever. If you don’t want my help-”

“Wait!”

Virgil turned, and the kid had a hand stretched out as the other clutched the paper to his chest. He waited for the kid to continue.

“Can you at least tell me where West Tammy Street is? Please.”

Virgil snorted before he replied, “It’s on the other side of the city. It’ll take you a few hours to get there if you walk.”

“A few hours!” The kid cried out. “But I’ll never make it there before dark.”

“Not my problem.”

“Wait, please! I’ll get lost.”

Virgil heard the sound of feet pattering after him. He turned, and the kid stopped at his side. The kid’s eyes glistened with tears as he stared up at Virgil.

“So?” Virgil asked. “I thought you didn’t need my help.”

“I-” the kid looked down. He stared at the paper in his hand before he clutched it close to his chest. “I don’t want your help. But. But I guess. I need it.”

Virgil rose a brow. He sat down on the sidewalk, his feet resting on the street, and leaned back on the palm of his hands. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Princeton Roman Cooper,” he proudly proclaimed. He sat down next to Virgil on the street and added, “The third. But everyone calls me just Roman.”

“I’m Virgil,” he said as he held out his hand. Roman took it and gave it an overexaggerated shake. “So, Roman, why aren’t you, you know, out looking with your parents?”

“Because,” Roman replied as he looked down, “Dad’s… not home. He got taken away.”

“Oh,” Virgil mumbled.

“He was a good dad,” Roman defended. “He didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t hurting anyone! He just fell asleep in the wrong place, that’s all.”

Virgil’s heart cracked at that. He pressed his hands against his lips and sighed. “I’m sure.”

“I don’t get why they have to be so mean to him,” Roman added on. “He didn’t hurt anybody. He loved everybody. I thought police officers were supposed to help people.”

“Get in line, kid.”

“What line?”

“Nothing. Nevermind. Anyway, when was the last time you saw your dad?”

Roman thought for a moment. “Three months? No four. No three. Three and a half? I don’t remember.”

“Is that when they took him away?”

“No, that’s when Jenny would let us visit, but I haven’t seen her in a while. We could only see him every other Saturday.”

Virgil hummed. He didn’t want to pry any further, but he could already see where this was going. He caught the familiar black car pulling up anyway. Virgil slowly stood, and Roman hurried to his feet. The car parked next to them, and the back car window rolled down.

Remy lowered his sunglasses and looked from Virgil to Roman and back to Virgil. He asked, “Hey, babe. Who’s the kid?”

“Is that your boyfriend?” Roman asked.

“NO,” Virgil snapped. He sighed and replied, “No. He’s not.”

Remy couldn’t help but laugh, and he shook his head. He opened the car door and motioned for Virgil to step inside.

Roman looked up at Virgil, his eyes wide with worry. Virgil sighed. Judging by the position of the sun, it was almost night, and that meant Roman would be alone in the dark on the worst side of town. Virgil bit his lip.

“Hey, kid, want to go for a ride?” Virgil asked.

“I’m not supposed to get in a stranger’s car,” Roman mumbled.

“I know.” Virgil scratched a hand through his hair. “But would you rather be here on the street where someone will kill you or worse or get in a car with someone you kinda know who might kidnap you?”

Roman opened his mouth to answer but closed it soon after. He spied Remy with a wary grimace. Remy looked over at Virgil, his eyebrow quirked with interest, and grinned.

“Alright fine,” Roman mumbled. He eyed the limousine and scooted in first. “But if you kidnap me I’ll bite you again.”

“Again?” Remy asked as he turned his head to Virgil.

“Do. Not. Ask.”

“Y’know, babe, Janus ain’t gonna like that you picked up a kid.”

Virgil slid into the car. “Shut it, Remy.”

“I’m just saying.” Remy slid in the car after Virgil and shut the door.

“We’re just dropping him off at West Tammy Street. Nothing more.”

“West Tammy Street? How’d he get all the way over here?”

“It’s a long story.” Virgil glanced over at Roman, who was pressing the car window button up and down. “Would you stop that? You’re going to break it.”

Roman let the button go and scowled.

“And buckle up.”

Roman did as he was told, begrudgingly, and crossed his arms. Virgil shook his head as he buckled his own seatbelt in the middle. Remy couldn’t help but laugh, and Virgil nudged him in the arm, which only made Remy laugh harder.

* * *

“What was the house number again?” Remy asked as he stared out the window. He kept a close eye on the mailboxes as they passed.

“1320,” Roman answered as he looked out his own window.

Virgil sat in the middle and pretended he was asleep.

“1314, 1316, wait! I see it,” Roman yelled. He tried to jump up, but the seatbelt kept him in place. Virgil snapped his eyes open and looked to his left.

The house was one of those rich suburban houses that probably had “my grass is greener” wars with its neighbors. A flag with the words “Welcome to our crazy family” flapped in the breeze. The lights were off in every room but one, which was covered with roman blinds.

“That’s the house?” Virgil questioned.

Roman already unlocked his seatbelt and the car door before the car stopped. Virgil shouted for him to wait, but Roman darted across the street and was barrelling toward the front door before Virgil could even get all his words of protest out. Virgil and Remy watched Roman’s actions with bated breath.

Roman rang the doorbell and adjusted the straps on his backpack. He waited. He rang the doorbell again. He pressed it at least three more times in a minute waiting for someone to answer the door.

A woman wearing a nightgown opened the door. Roman went to push past her, but she stopped him.

“Roman, go home,” she ordered.

“But-”

“No. Go home. I told you before, you have to go home.”

“But Remus-”

“I said no! I don’t know how you got back here, but you have to stop doing this. You’re going to get taken away from your family again.”

“They’re not my family, and I don’t care. I want to see Remus!”

The woman sighed loudly before she slammed the door shut. Her muffled voice shouted through the door, “I’m calling the police if you don’t leave!”

Roman pounded his fists on the door. He screamed, “Unhand him, you foul villain! Let him go! Please, I just wanna see him. Just for a minute! Please!”

Remy sucked in a breath behind Virgil, and Virgil mumbled a small “yikes” under his breath. The woman pulled up the blinds. Even from here, the two could see the phone in her hand tattling on Roman.

“Virge,” Remy called out, but Virgil already scooted across the street and ran over to Roman. Roman still pounded his fists on the door, his pleas to be let in slowly becoming smaller and smaller. His choked sobs echoed through the small door space.

Virgil put a hand on Roman’s shoulder, and Roman twisted around, ready to fight. He relaxed when Virgil came into sight.

“Virgil, help! They won’t let me in. They gotta let me in!”

Virgil sighed hard through his nose. “I know this is hard, Roman, but-”

“No! Don’t. I know what you’re going to say. You adults are all the same! You keep telling me no, no, no, but you never say why! I just want to see my brother.”

“I know,” Virgil said, trying to keep his voice even. He swallowed hard. “I know you’re hurt right now, Roman, but we’ll get your brother another day. Right now, the cops are going to come and take you away. Then you’re going to have to start all over again.”

“I don’t care! I’ll keep coming back a million times if it means I get to see him. I’ll- I’ll- I’ll run across the whole country if I have to!”

Virgil thought for a second before he grabbed Roman around the waist. Roman flailed wildly to escape, spitting out insults and demanding to be let go. Virgil ignored it all. If the cops found him, it was over. Virgil shoved Roman in the car, slid in, and slammed the car door shut.

“Drive,” he ordered.

The car sped down the street. Virgil tried to get Roman to sit in his seat, but Roman kept crawling over him to open Virgil’s door. Remy struggled to get Roman to sit still as well and got kicked in several spots for his efforts.

Eventually, Roman broke down and turned into a sobbing mess. He threw his head down into Virgil’s lap and grabbed onto Virgil’s pants leg like a lifeline. Virgil shared a look with Remy, who let out a long sigh of relief and fixed his sunglasses.

“It’s not fair,” Roman said between his sobs. “It’s not fair!”

“Life’s not fair,” Virgil mumbled. He thought of a better answer and continued, “I know it’s not fair. I’m sorry it’s not fair. We’re… we’ll get you to your brother somehow.”

He locked eyes with Remy, who pretended he didn’t see Virgil and turned his head to look out his window.

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” Remy mumbled.

Virgil pretended he couldn’t hear him.

* * *

Inside the office was quiet right now. Most people were already asleep or at home, seeing as it was almost midnight. Remy and Virgil stepped into the lobby together. Roman, who was sound asleep in Virgil’s arms, buried his face into Virgil’s neck to shield his eyes from the light.

“So, are you going to tell Janus or am I?” Remy asked as he rose a brow.

“I’m not telling Janus anything,” Virgil mumbled.

“You can’t just hide a kid in your room, babe.”

“Watch me.”

“Alright fine, but if Emile finds him, you’re in deep shit.”

“I really couldn’t care less right now.”

Virgil headed toward the elevators to the bottom floors, leaving Remy alone with his thoughts. Remy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Janus was probably asleep by now, so perhaps Virgil was right to hide Roman in his room until the morning. Then they could figure out what to do with him when the time came.

Virgil looked left, right, and left again when he got to the third floor. He successfully made it to his room without any interruption, opened his room door, and stepped inside. Virgil pushed the lock closed. He flipped the light switch on and let out a long sigh of relief.

As carefully as he could, he laid Roman down on his bed. Virgil pulled one of his throw blankets over the kid and tucked him in. From there, he walked to his computer, turned it on, and turned out the lights. The computer illuminated the room in a blue glow as Virgil plopped into his chair.

The first thing Virgil did was google the name “Princeton Roman Cooper,” but when the only result that popped up was an obituary, he added, “the second” to the search.

According to this, Princeton Cooper II was arrested three years ago for a hit and run while he was drunk. According to the report, he was arrested a lot for public intoxication as well. Virgil groaned and ran his hand through his hair.

Another link took Virgil to another obituary. Mary Odette Cooper, age 25, shot and killed six years ago in a drive-by shooting, leaving behind her husband and her two four-year-old twin boys, Princeton Cooper III and Remus Cooper. That meant Roman was only ten years old.

Of course, Virgil couldn’t find anything else on the two boys. Foster children were often wiped off the public record for their own protection. He wondered how long Roman and Remus were thrown into the system and how long they were separated. Judging by that woman’s reaction, that wasn’t the first time Roman ran away to see his brother.

Virgil rubbed his tired eyes. He glanced over at Roman then back at his computer. He wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight, that was for sure. So, instead, he pulled up Tumblr and looked for something to take his mind off of today’s events.

* * *

Virgil woke up to computer keys stuck to his forehead. He groaned and sat up. His back cracked from misuse. Virgil rubbed the marks on his forehead before he stretched his arms over his head, completing the back cracking process.

Ugh, he fell asleep at his computer desk again.

Virgil closed the tab for Tumblr and reminded himself that he googled Roman’s father last night. Virgil turned his head toward his bed.

His empty bed.

Panic lit Virgil’s entire chest. He snapped his head over to his door, which was open. Shit.

“Shit!” Virgil yelled as he sprung out of his chair. Roman could be literally anywhere by now. How long was he running around? How long would it take for Roman to find the elevator? How long before Janus came down to personally murder Virgil himself?

The phone in his pocket rang, and Virgil swallowed hard. Janus’s name flashed on the screen. Virgil tried to keep the shake out of his voice as he answered, “What?”

“Good morning, Virgil. Did you sleep well?” Janus’s calm voice asked.

Shit.

Virgil swallowed hard. “I guess.”

“Oh, I sure hope so. Did you have a lovely evening?”

Shiiiit.

“Eh. Could’ve been better.”

“So I heard.” Virgil waited for the final stone to drop. “Can you come up to my office? There’s something I’d like to discuss.”

Shit. Shit. Shiiiiit.

Virgil tried to keep his voice even as he answered, “I’ll be there in a minute.”

Virgil clicked the off button and threw the phone onto his bed before Janus even got the chance to say goodbye. He grabbed his hair with both hands. He was so utterly and completely fucked.

“I’m so fucked,” Virgil mumbled as he made his way to the elevator. No, fucked was putting it lightly. He was up a creek of rapid fucks with no fuck paddle and no fucking chance of surviving.

The elevator ride took no time and too much time at the same time. Virgil swallowed thickly as the elevator doors opened to the top floor. Even if no one was watching him, he still felt like everyone was staring. Virgil shoved his hands into his pockets. The farther he got to Janus’s door, the harder his heart pounded.

If he was lucky, he’d have a heart attack before he reached Janus’s office.

Unfortunately, he was not lucky.

Virgil pressed the buzzer on the door and held his breath. It took a moment before Janus’s response allowed him in. Virgil forgot how to breathe as he twisted the door handle and stepped inside.

Janus stood beside his computer chair, one arm slung over the backrest, the other on his hip, and turned his head toward Virgil. His smirk, which was more like a twisted Cheshire cat’s grin, greeted him.

“Hello, Virgil,” Janus purred. “Come, have a seat. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

Virgil’s whole body shook as he walked to the wooden chair and had a seat. Janus’s eyes followed him the entire time. Virgil gagged on his tongue and couldn’t swallow the knot in his throat down.

A head poked out from behind Janus’s computer screen. Brown eyes met gray, and Virgil cursed as Roman sat in Janus’s computer chair with an oblivious smile.

“Hey Virgil,” Roman greeted as if he wasn’t sitting in the chair of a fuming crime boss. “Janus agreed to help me get Remus back.”

“He did?” Virgil said as he took a moment to glance up at Janus.

“I did,” Janus responded. His voice was strained as if his patience ran thin. Virgil swallowed hard. “You know me, Virgil. I’m always eager to help a lost child.”

Virgil pretended that wasn’t as threatening as it sounded and looked back at Roman. He asked, “So, how are you going to help?”

“Oh, not me,” Janus replied. He turned the computer screen around. “You’re going to do it.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You started this. You’re going to finish it.”

“Is that… is that a floor plan to the house Remus is in?”

“Oh, hats off to Virgil. You’re so clever.” Janus paused. “You’re going to break in, kidnap Remus, and then you’re going to figure out what to do with the two of them.”

“Me? Why me?”

“As I said: you started this, and you’re going to finish it. I hate when jobs don’t get finished.”

“And what the fffffrig do you think I’m supposed to do with them, huh?”

“That’s your problem, not mine.”

Virgil studied Janus’s two-seconds-from-snapping face for a moment and then looked at Roman. The kid had such a sickeningly optimistic look on his face that Virgil wanted to gag. Didn’t he know what trouble he was causing? Did he even care?

“Fine,” Virgil growled. “When do I go?”

“Whenever you’re ready.” Janus walked out from behind his desk and towered over Virgil. He stared at Virgil over his cheekbones and continued, “But the longer you wait, the less patience I’m going to have.”

Virgil tried to open his mouth to respond, but his throat ran dry.

Janus continued, “And if Emile finds out about any of this, Roman will be taking your place, am I clear?”

Virgil slid down in his chair. “Crystal.”

“Good.” Janus walked away, and Virgil’s ability to breathe returned. Janus slowly turned his computer chair and addressed Roman. “Are you ready?”

“Yes!” Roman chirped as he jumped from the chair and headed to the stairs. “I want to watch The Fox and the Hound first.”

“An excellent choice,” Janus answered. “Run along. I’ll be upstairs in a moment.”

“I’ll get the movie ready.” With that, Roman bolted up the stairs. The sound of Janus’s bedroom door slamming closed echoed throughout the room.

Virgil waited for Janus to say something, anything to fill in this awkward silence.

“Cute kid,” Janus said, the last thing that Virgil expected.

“He’s-”

“Yes, I read up on everything already,” Janus snapped his head down in Virgil’s direction. “I don’t know how you plan on fixing this, Virgil, but you better do it quickly. I do _not_ want any more kids in this building, do you hear me? None.”

“I heard.”

“Good,” Janus headed toward the stairs and climbed them one by one, “because I would hate to lose a spy as good as you are because you can’t follow a simple order.”

Virgil swallowed hard. The door to Janus’s room opened and closed again, and Virgil waited for a moment before he exited the office, dismissing himself.

How the hell was he supposed to pull this off?

* * *

Janus opened and closed his bedroom door. He watched Roman bounce around the room as he tried to figure out how to work Janus’s DVD player and then dive bomb onto Janus’s bed. Janus’s eye may have twitched a bit. He just made the bed.

Roman noticed he wasn’t alone in the room, beamed, and said, “Oh, hey, you’re just in time! I just put it in.”

“Good,” Janus responded. He walked over to his bed and gently sat in it. His back pressed against the headboard. Roman apparently decided he was going to steal all of Janus’s pillows and make a comfy pillow chair out of six pillows on top of an already pillow soft bed, but whatever. The kid was happily bouncing through the opening titles waiting for the movie to start.

It was… annoyingly cute.

“Have you ever watched this movie before?” Roman asked.

“I own it.”

“Oh, yeah, well, I haven’t.”

“You haven’t?”

“No. My foster family,” Roman paused, “my foster family said that Disney is literal garbage.”

“They did?” Janus said with a raised brow.

Roman nodded. “Yeah, they said that all they do is pander to other people’s agendas and stuff.”

Oh, _liberal_ garbage.

“That’s hilarious, considering it’s a multimillion-dollar company that panders more to its stockholders than those who blindly support them.”

“I don’t know what any of that means, but I know Disney movies always made my family happy.” Roman hugged a pillow. “Mommy used to say that it gave her hope that things would get better.”

The small grin on Janus’s face started to slowly slip away. He looked over at Roman, who didn’t look away from the television. Instead, Roman clutched a pillow close to his chest and squished his chin into it.

“Your mom was,” Janus paused, “a pretty good woman, I’m guessing.”

“Every Saturday, we’d go down to the lake and feed the ducks some lettuce. And every Sunday, we’d sit and watch a movie together before her and daddy had to go back to work. And every Shabbat, we’d bake Challah together. And every Christmas Eve, we drove around in the car to look at holiday decorations with hot chocolate and cookies.” Roman blinked the tears from his eyes and buried his head into his pillow. “I miss her so much.”

Janus sighed through his nose. He didn’t really know how to comfort a crying child on his bed. So, he chose to pat Roman on the back twice and call it good.

“It’s not fair!” Roman cried. “If mommy was still here, daddy wouldn’t have started drinking, and then we could be a family again. Mommy always stopped daddy from drinking. Why wouldn’t he stop when I asked him to?”

Janus groaned. He was really, _really_ not equipped for this kind of stuff. That was Emile’s department. However, there was no way Emile was going to know Roman was up here, especially with the state Roman and his brother were in. Janus would shoot himself in the foot first before he asked Emile for help.

“Well,” Janus started, but his voice died out. How did he even begin to talk about this? “See, the thing is, kid- Roman- sometimes… adults do stupid things, and it’s not your job to fix them.”

That only made Roman cry harder. Janus took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. How was he supposed to help this kid out?

Roman threw himself into Janus’s side and latched onto his shirt. Janus put one hand on the headboard to balance himself and hovered the other over Roman’s back. His shock slowly processed that Roman was hugging him. He was also getting snot, spit, and tears all over his best suit, but he’d worry about that when Emile sent it to the dry cleaners.

Slowly, Janus’s arm lowered until it cradled Roman against his chest. He put the other on Roman’s back and gave it two gentle pats.

“There, there,” he said. He looked over at the television and watched the opening title for the DVD repeat once again. With a heavy sigh, Janus pulled Roman a little closer into a tight hug. Roman didn’t pull away. Instead, he buried himself deeper into Janus’s chest. Janus ran his free hand over the buzzcut short black hair and wondered if that was Roman’s choice or the foster family’s choice.

Janus wasn’t sure how many times the DVD menu looped before Roman finally pulled away, but he strangely didn’t care.

“Feel better?” he asked. Roman nodded his head, and Janus eyed the remote. “If you don’t want to watch the movie-”

“No, I wanna watch it,” Roman mumbled.

“Are you sure? I mean, the mom gets shot in the first few minutes.”

Roman gasped. “Spoilers!”

Janus rolled his eyes and snorted. He shook his head and adjusted himself into a comfier position. Roman grumbled as he pushed the play button on the movie. The opening started out slow and quiet but started to grow in volume.

Janus monitored Roman’s reaction to the opening, all the way up to the gunshot. He didn’t miss the way Roman flinched. For a moment, Janus thought Roman was going to fling himself into his side again, but Roman stayed strong. Roman did, however, squeeze the pillow in his arms a little tighter.

As the elderly woman came out and picked up Todd, Roman seemed to deflate a bit. Janus opened his mouth to say something, but he chose not to.

“What about his dad?” Roman asked. “Doesn’t he have a dad? Why did that old lady just take him away?”

“I don’t think he did,” Janus answered.

Roman quieted down and continued to watch the movie. Janus noticed the more the fox and the old lady interacted, the more Roman smiled when they were on screen together. Janus wondered what was going on inside Roman’s brain. Did he relate to the older woman being kind to Todd, or did he want that for himself?

Before long, the scene with Todd meeting Copper came on, and that’s where Roman’s interest really picked up.

“So they can’t be friends because they're different and their family said so?” Roman asked.

“Yeah,” Janus answered. “Some people are just like that. They’re-”

“Racist, I know. Mommy already had this talk with me.”

Janus’s heart broke a bit. He chewed on his lip, and he tried, “But you know, Roman… ah, nevermind. I don’t want to spoil the ending.”

Roman eyed him curiously, but he didn’t ask for Janus to continue his thought. Janus sighed in relief. Hopefully, Roman would never pick up the book and read it and would claim this movie’s ending as the one true ending.

The more they watched the movie, the more Roman seemed to address what Todd was going through and how much he related to it. Up until the very end (excluding the part where Todd found a girlfriend and Roman wrinkled his nose), Roman commented about how he and Remus were kept apart by their foster families.

“That’s gotta be rough,” Janus said.

“Do you have a brother?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“But I do have a friend like that.”

“Oh?” Roman turned his head to Janus. “What’s their name?”

Janus smiled. “Remy.”

“Are you two still friends?”

“Very much so, yes.”

“Wait, Remy was the one who was in the car last night with me, wasn’t he?”

“He was.”

Roman nodded. “I’m glad you and Remy are still friends.”

“Me too.”

“So, if you and Remy can be friends and be together again, Remus and I can be friends again, right?”

“Of course,” Janus replied. He let out a heavy sigh. “But, it might be hard-”

Roman jumped up on the bed, making Janus bounce. He flung his hand up in the air and held the other out like he had a shield. “I’ll save Remus and we’ll be able to live happily ever after, just like we were supposed to.”

Janus couldn’t help the snort that came out of his nose. He couldn’t ruin Roman’s optimism. He just couldn’t.

Though, he had no trouble telling Roman, “Sit down before you break my bed.”

Roman jumped, and he crashed down on the bed like it was a trampoline. Janus thanked every deity he could think of that the bed didn’t break.

“Can we watch another movie?” Roman asked.

Janus thought for a moment. He looked over at the clock.

“One more movie wouldn’t hurt, I guess,” Janus answered. He barely had the words out before Roman darted across the room to pick out another movie.

Good thing too. Janus didn’t want Roman to see the fond smile that crossed over his face. He didn’t want the kid to think he was getting attached or anything.

* * *

Remy pulled the sucker out of his mouth with an audible pop as he leaned against Virgil’s desk. Virgil had his face buried in his hands as he stared at the blueprints on his screen.

“Remy, you kidnapped kids before.”

“Yeah?”

“So… tips… I guess- god that sounds so fucking wrong.”

“The first one is always the worst,” Remy responded. He put the sucker back in his mouth.

“Don’t be so chill about this!”

“What do you want me to be? I’m kinda numb to doing illegal shit.”

“I don’t know, maybe, give me something else to work with here?” Virgil yelled. He wanted to slam his head against his desk _so hard_.

A knock sounded at the door, and Virgil guilt-clicked out of the open tab. Remy sat on the edge of Virgil’s desk.

“What?” Virgil called out.

“Virgil,” Logan’s voice said. Great. “I have a request.”

Virgil’s voice drained into a tired mumble, “What?”

“Oh, uh, if you are busy, I don’t want to-”

Virgil leaned back in his chair and opened his door. He caught Logan’s startled jump and sent a sympathetic smile. “You’re not bugging me, Lo. It’s fine.”

Logan glanced from Virgil to Remy and back to Virgil. He wrung his hands together, opened his mouth several times, then said, “Are you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure. Come on in.” Virgil opened the door a little wider.

Logan walked into the room and closed the door behind him. He kept eye contact with Remy as he sat on the edge of Virgil’s bed.

Virgil twisted his chair around to face Logan as he said, “What’s up?”

“You’re good with social media and whatnot, are you not?” Logan asked.

Virgil’s stomach dropped. “Yeah, why?”

“I was wondering,” Logan paused. “I was wondering if you’d search up the twitter page my parents set up for me and show me what they’ve been writing.”

“Lo, I told you-”

“I understand it is unwise to think about the past, and I know I hated my presence was used as a tool for my parent’s own personal gain, but Emile said something this afternoon that troubled me, and I cannot get it out of my head, and no matter how many times I keep trying to get him to bring it up, he refuses. I need your help to discover the truth.”

Remy sucked in a breath through his teeth. He looked over at Virgil and jumped off the desk.

“Welp, that’s my cue to leave. Come see me once you’re done, Virge, and we’ll talk about the you-know-what later.”

Logan blinked before he asked, “The you-know-what?”

Virgil flinched. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Of course. Keep your secrets,” Logan mumbled.

Remy sent a “later babes” before he closed Virgil’s door and left the two boys in silence. Virgil swiveled back and forth a few seconds on his chair before he finally prodded the conversation.

“So, what’s really on your mind, Lo?” Virgil asked. "You know what your parents have been doing."

Logan thought for a while, his fingers digging into Virgil's bed.

“There was this person who would comment on every single one of my videos,” Logan said, “and I remember him because of his stupid nickname. Punstar5000.”

“Woooow,” Virgil said with a soft laugh. “Now that’s a cringy username.”

“Yes, and I remember it specifically because of all the bad wordplay comments he left on all of my videos. I… guiltily admit… even though I hated my situation, for some reason, I found myself waiting for his comments, and I… I wanted to see… if he was alright.”

“Gosh,” Virgil said as he ran a hand over his face. “I mean, I could check, Lo, but I don’t know. You never know what you’re going to find.”

“Please?”

Virgil sighed through his nose. He typed the name into the search bar of YouTube and was surprised to find a few videos uploaded. Every video was shot like a found footage video. The kid definitely had no cinematography lessons. Usually, it was him playing pranks on his grandmother, only he laughed so much that she had to know it was a setup. Still, she went through with it. It warmed Virgil’s heart in a stupid way.

The last video was posted three months ago. Virgil frowned. That was around the time Logan stopped uploading. He searched around deeper to see if there was any sort of Twitter account or anything. To his surprise, he found one.

“Yo,” Virgil said as he motioned for Logan to come over, “check out this kid’s twitter.”

Tweet after tweet after tweet, for two months straight, was nothing but info on fake Logan, sightings, police reports, and awareness posts. Logan’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Virgil looked at the last post the kid made, which was last month.

“This is… almost creepy,” Virgil mumbled. He scrolled down the page past all the Logan stuff.

“I’m sure he’s simply concerned. He just wants to assist in my parents finding me, as he has no idea why I left to begin with,” Logan commented.

Virgil gave a low hum. The page said the kid was only fourteen, so it was possible he was just concerned, but knowing what Virgil knew about Logan’s home life, it looked stalkerish.

Virgil sighed and said, “It doesn’t really have anything recent. The last post says “Some people are worth melting for” and then that’s it.”

“That’s impossible. A person cannot melt. We are made up of-”

“Logan, buddy, science info dump me later. It’s a Frozen quote, you know, from the Disney movie.”

“I do not.”

“Yikes, we’re having a movie marathon later.” Virgil looked from the Twitter page to Logan. “Is that all you wanted?”

“Yes,” Logan said as he stood. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

“No, Logan, we talked about this.”

Logan looked up, his mouth forming a surprised “o” shape, and he chewed on his lip. “Thank you for taking the time to help me.”

“There we go. I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Of course.”

With that, Logan left the room, leaving Virgil with more questions now than he had before. He stared back at the kid on Twitter and sighed. Before he closed the tab, he reopened the floor plan Janus sent him.

He had enough kids to worry about right now.

* * *

Janus glanced out his window as the night sky painted itself in all sorts of bright reds and orange. He looked back at the television, which started to showcase the ending credits for Beauty and the Beast.

“Well, we sure had an adventure today, didn’t we?” Janus asked. He turned over to look at Roman, and his breath caught.

Roman was sound asleep on the pillows, his face still smeared from the chocolate bar he had for a snack. Nevermind that some was melted all over Janus’s silk pillows. Roman’s face looked so peaceful, like he wasn’t a runaway kid looking for his lost twin brother.

Janus sighed and grabbed his hair with his hand. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. It was almost nine at night. Hopefully, Virgil was on the case right now about finding Roman’s brother so they could get Roman the heck out of his bed.

Thankfully today was Emile’s day off, so he didn’t feel inclined to bug Janus, or else today would’ve gone awful.

Janus turned the television off and got up from his bed slowly so he wouldn’t wake Roman. He grabbed his pajamas, got ready for bed, and walked down to his office to see if there was any work waiting for him.

The minute Janus loaded his computer up, something felt off. He couldn’t place what. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he kept glancing behind him.

Something wasn’t right.

Janus stood from his seat and inspected every inch of the office. Nothing seemed out of place. No recording devices, no hidden cameras, no people hiding under his desk. Nothing. With a sigh of relief, Janus collapsed back into his chair.

“You’re just paranoid,” Janus mumbled under his breath. Janus loaded up his e-mail.

_From: Unknown_

Janus stared at the message. Did he open it? Was it a bug? Janus sighed through his nose and deleted the email. Whatever it was, it had to be a trick. Probably just some scammer who got his email through some sort of payoff between some scumbag Janus dealt with. It wouldn’t be the first time.

After clearing out a few more e-mails, Janus shut down his computer. A quick walk into the office to make sure nothing was going on would be alright, right? Janus slowly opened his door and peeked out.

No one was on the floor, which wasn’t unusual for a Sunday.

Janus sighed a breath of relief. “See? Paranoid.”

A scream from Janus’s bedroom and a loud thump caused him to jump. Janus flew up his stairs and crashed into his door. His bed was empty, and the pillow throne that Roman made hung over the side of the bed.

“Roman,” Janus called out. He strained his hearing.

Light crying signaled Janus to creep around the bed. Janus caught sight of Roman curled up in a ball, a pillow squished against his head and shoulders shaking.

“Roman?” Janus asked, his voice lighter this time. He didn’t know whether to get closer or not. “Hey, Roman, are you okay?”

It took a moment, but Roman peeked out from under the pillow. Roman sniffled, and he sat up on the floor. His hands brushed away a few tears.

“Oh,” Roman’s voice cracked, “Janus. I didn’t see you there. What time is it?”

Janus thought his next words over before he answered, “It’s nine at night. You fell asleep in the middle of the movie.”

“Oh, haha, how silly of me.” Roman pushed a smile on his face and crawled up onto the bed once again. “Can we watch another one?”

Janus opened his mouth, closed it, and replied, “It’s too late now. I’m getting ready to go to sleep. I have to work tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Roman played with his fingers. “Okay. I understand. Uh, can Virgil come pick me up now?”

“Virgil is busy. I can walk you to his room-”

“When will he be back?”

Janus thought. “I’m not sure. Sometimes it takes a while until-”

“Oh, okay then. If it’s alright with you, I’ll stay here then, you know, to protect you from the bad guys.”

Janus snorted. “I don’t need to be protected by a ten-year-old, thanks.”

“Hey, just because I’m ten doesn’t mean I’m not tough.” Roman puffed out his chest. “I can fight.”

“I have no doubt, but really, Roman, you should return to Virgil’s room. He’s getting Remus tonight, remember?”

Roman looked down at his pillows, and he bit his lip. “But if I sleep in Virgil’s bed, then where is Remus going to sleep?”

“Can’t you two share a bed?”

“Well, yeah, I guess, but,” Roman scowled, “you have a bigger bed than Virgil. It’s not fair that you get it all to yourself when Remus and I have to share a little one. And then Virgil will have to sleep on his computer again.”

“I’m a king. I can do whatever I want.”

The quote caught Roman off guard. He sprung to his feet and pointed a finger. “If you were half the king that Mufasa was-”

Janus reached forward and picked Roman up into the air. Roman let out a surprised squeal. Janus held Roman into the air by the armpits, monitoring Roman’s reaction for any discomfort. However, Roman seemed to have no problem with being picked up judging by the giggles, and Janus continued with “I’m ten times the king Mufasa was.”

Janus put Roman over his shoulder and headed toward his door. Only then did Roman realize he was losing the battle and started to struggle from Janus’s grip.

“Wait, time out,” Roman said through his grunting. “I don’t want to leave!”

“Well, that’s too bad.”

“No, wait!”

Janus opened his door, and Roman grabbed onto the door frame with one hand and Janus’s shirt with the other. He nearly fell off Janus’s shoulder.

“What the-”

“If I go, then I won’t know if you’re okay. What if someone breaks in? What if someone decides they’re going to buttsasinate you in the middle of the night?”

“Buttsasinate?”

“Ass is a bad word.”

Janus couldn’t help the snort that escaped his nose. “I have security locks on all the doors.”

“But sometimes they don’t work! Sometimes the bad guys get in anyway.”

“Roman, let go of the door.”

“No! I’m not going to leave you alone to fend for yourself. That’s how they get you, when you split up. Please! I don’t want you to be all alone in the dark and scared and worried someone is going to take you away.”

Janus stopped pulling. “Is that what happened to you?”

Roman got eerily quiet. Janus could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and Roman’s own heart beat against his shoulder. Roman’s grip on the back of his shirt increased.

Janus let out a long, _loooong_ tired sigh. He was going to regret this.

“Alright, Roman, you know what? Maybe you’re right. I’ll let you stay here. BUT. Only for tonight, you got it?”

Roman’s whole body relaxed. “Oh, of course! You can count on me.”

Janus walked over to his bed and threw Roman down on it. Roman let out a light grunt and then started to giggle. Without cracking a smile, Janus picked up the pillows Roman threw on the floor earlier and tossed them onto the bed.

“Okay, but I have to set some ground rules first,” Janus said as he leaned both palms on his bed. “Rule number one: no cuddling. You cuddle me and I’ll throw you out of this room faster than you can say “long live the king” got it?”

Roman stopped laughing and looked at Janus over the top of his eyebrows with a smile.

“Rule number two: as soon as Virgil gets here with Remus, you leave. Doesn’t matter if it’s 3 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon.”

“Okay.”

“Rule number three: if someone by chance does happen to break into my room, and you decide to attack them instead of waking me up, I will not feel bad if they murder you.”

“Wait, really?”

“And rule number four,” Janus paused, “if you pee in my bed I will murder you myself.”

Roman started to laugh, and Janus couldn’t help the smile he cracked.

“I’m serious, kid. No peeing in the bed.”

“What do you think I am, five?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No, I’m ten!”

“Oh, yes, how silly of me. Everyone totally stops peeing the bed when they’re nine-and-three quarter years old.”

Roman squinted at that, and he flipped over onto his hands and knees. He watched Janus adjust the bed so a wall of pillows separated him and Roman. Then, Janus pulled back the blankets and snuggled down into them. He let out a content sigh.

“Good night, Roman,” Janus called out.

Roman sat there for a moment before he shuffled over the bed and pulled back the covers on his side as well. “Good night, Mr. Escamas. And don’t worry. I’ll protect you tonight. Prince Roman is on the case.”

Janus let out a content sigh at that. He mumbled into his pillow. “My hero.”

Even without looking, Janus could feel Roman’s pride beaming. He couldn’t help but smile. If sitting there and pretending to protect Janus in a highly secure building made Roman feel important, who was Janus to tell him no? The kid wasn’t going to get hurt. Heck, maybe Roman could use the self-esteem boost.

Besides, it wasn’t like there was anything wrong with pretending to be protected by a ten-year-old, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm totally cool with just heart comments, so don't worry if you have nothing to say! I'm thankful you even made it this far. If you'd like to keep up with me and my other works, you can find me on Tumblr @ altruistic-skittles
> 
> -Cat


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